This invention relates to magnetic separators and, more particularly, to magnetic separation of magnetic material in refuse.
With more and more emphasis being placed on recycling, it is becoming more desirable to recover salvageable articles from otherwise discarded material. Much of the metallic material discarded as refuse can generally be recycled for one purpose or another, provided it can be efficiently separated from the remainder of the refuse. The portions intended to be recaptured being metallic are generally also magnetic so that magnetic separation is a possibility for recapture. However, the remainder of the refuse, i.e. other than thet metallic articles, although generally not magnetic (e.g. paper), is usually light and tangled with the magnetic portions and thus subject to being carried along with the magnetic material making complete separation difficult, if not impossible. Also, in some cases it may be desired to separate the lighter material (e.g. paper) for recycling.
There are various designs of magnetic separators, none of which, to the inventor's knowledge, are well suited to this refuse separator problem because of an inability to insure thorough separation of magnetics from non-magnetics in that environment.
This invention is concerned with this problem and has as one of its objects the provision of effective separation of the magnetic portions of refuse from the non-magnetic portions thereof.
Another general object of this invention to account for is belt wear.
A patent filed by Newton I. Potter and William T. Barrett U.S. Pat. No. 3,809,239 entitled "Magnetic Refuse Separator", and assigned to the assignee of this application, discloses and claims a magnetic separator which is also concerned with the problem of refuse separation.